Posted on 02/17/2005 3:59:09 PM PST by cyncooper
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was so concerned about Talon News reporter James Guckert's potential ties to the Republican Party that he stopped calling on him at press briefings for about a week in 2003, Fleischer told E&P today.
"I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer said in a phone interview. "He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He said they used the GOP name for marketing purposes only."
He said he resumed calling on Guckert, who used the alias Jeff Gannon, after Bobby Eberle, owner of both GOPUSA and Talon News, "assured me that they were not part of the Republican Party." Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and served as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Fleischer has not previously commented on the Gannon/Guckert affair.
"I don't think that party organizations should have people in that room acting as reporters," Fleischer said, explaining his initial concerns. "They are advocates, not reporters, and a line should be drawn." But, after speaking with Eberle and looking at Talon News, he was convinced that GOPUSA.com and Talon News were not official party sites.
"It looked like a conservative news organization," Fleischer said. "If I thought that they were part of the party, I would not have [resumed] calling on them."
Fleischer served as Bush press secretary from January 2001 to July 2003. Guckert, who has become a center of controversy after it was learned he had used an alias at the White House and had ties to several male escort sites, resigned his Talon News post last week.
Fleischer said he did not know much about Guckert and could not recall exactly when he started covering press briefings. He said he played no part in approving Guckert's requests for daily press credentials (which were handled by his office) and could offer no further comment on that.
But he said he did not know at the time that Guckert had been using a false name and did not know if Scott McClellan, now press secretary but then Fleischer's aide, had known then either. "It came as a surprise to me, because I always knew him as Jeff Gannon," he said. Fleischer said he did not know of any other White House reporters using aliases.
He said he did not know the method the White House Press Office used to keep records of those, like Guckert, who received daily press passes. White House Press Office officials did not respond to several requests today for such information.
Fleischer said he knew that he would get a conservative question from Guckert whenever he called on him. "He was one of the few identifiable conservatives in the room," Fleischer said. "[With] some reporters, you know you will get a question from right field, and [with] some you know you will get a question from left field. I made a deliberate practice to call on everyone in the room. It was a way to make sure large organizations got their questions in, but also to be fair to organizations who do not get their questions in right away."
Fleischer stressed that he did not go to Guckert more often than others or in the hopes of getting a "softball" or partisan question. "Sometimes, you can get tripped up from right field," he said with a laugh.
When asked about the credentialing process for reporters, Fleischer said he purposely did not get involved in deciding who should get passes and believes no one in his former job should. He recalled that there was a rule about credentialed reporters being part of news organizations that "published regularly" but was uncertain how it applied to Web sites. "I don't know that we even had a policy vis-a-vis bloggers and blogs," he told E&P. "I never kept up on any of that.
"Until this issue came up, it was such a low-level thing that it would be below the radar of the press secretary," Fleischer noted. He also believes that the issue will eventually blow over. "I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those issues where people wring their hands, say 'woe is me,' and decide that it is best the way it is," he predicted. "I would advise the White House not to get into [efforts to change the system]."
Fleischer also stressed that, beyond security concerns, reporters from any regular news organization should be allowed to a have White House access unless they can be shown to be a threat. "It is a slippery slope for any press secretary in any administration to pick and choose who gets a credential based on ideology," he said, adding, "so long as they are a legitimate reporter."
Even Guckert's ties to several sex Web sites and allegations that he worked as a male prostitute should not necessarily keep him or any other reporter out, Fleischer said. "The last thing our nation needs is for anyone in the White House to concern themselves with the private lives of reporters," he said. "What right does the White House have to decide who gets to be a reporter based on private lives?"
If allegations that Guckert ran Web ads offering his services as a male escort prove true, however, this would represent more than a “private life” issue. Asked what he thought about the recent revelations about Guckert's past, Fleischer said only, "It is all a bit odd."
When asked if knowing that Gannon was a fake name would have changed his treatment of Guckert, Fleischer said, "I don’t know how I would react to that." Should changes in the credentialing process be made? He said, "the White House Correspondents Association should either seek a change or leave it alone and recognize that there is room for a little weirdness on both sides."
He also said Guckert was "just as legitimate as some of the fringe organizations in the room."
And E&P sure is coming off like the pot calling the kettle black here, harping on Talon News and if they are a "real" news site. Check out the snarky attitude present throughout this piece.
Ari spoke with E&P today. He echoes what McClellan has been saying. The Press Secretary does not get involved in guarding the gate to the WH briefing room.
Something smells fishy here. I am beginning to suspect that E&P is related to David Brock and Media Matters.
Ari Fleischer has spoken about the Gannon issue and makes some very commonsense comments.
I heartily recommend reading the entire thing.
Good answers from Ari though. I miss him.
But it's OK to call on reporters that you know have a Democrat/leftist agenda.
Why are Republicans so worried about appearances? Obviously the Democrats aren't?
Read the whole thing. Evidently when Gannon first attended his employer was called "GOPUSA", so Fleischer made sure it was not related directly to the party and once satisfied it was not, he resumed calling on Gannon.
E&P speaks for editors and publishers of newspapers and magazines. A website doesn't necessarily have either. Nor does a website buy newsprint by the carload or ink by the barrel.
Ergo, E&P doesn't have a clue what they're writing about. And it shows...
Gotta love how the leftists are getting a free "bash a homo" pass from the homosexuality community.
Kinda like the NOW gang when the topic was Juanita, Kathleen, Paula, etc.
This is the most pathetic non-story I've ever seen, and I can only laugh at the Democrats wasting so much time on it. I asked everyone in my office today if they heard about the "Jeff Gannon story," - not a single one had.
The Dems are idiots if they think they can get any traction with this dumb ass story.
Why are Republicans so worried about appearances? Obviously the Democrats aren't?
It seems to be working big time at the DU.
Fleischer did the right thing. In fact, his answer puts the lie to the hyperventilating the left has been spreading about Gannon being a "plant".
I then ask this question. If being seen as doing the right thing isn't working what should be the next step?
It is working.
We shall see.
Why is it assumed that a member of the press can't be conservative?
I'm still not clear that the man was a "gay escort"--didn't they say that all he did was register some names for some websites as part of his web developing business?
I understood Gannon only did work for an internet site that was involved in some domain names thatt had homosexual content.....What is this male prostitute revelation all about??
There were more sites found with his picture and offering his, um, company.
However, the lefties took this and made HUGE leaps and bounds saying he was planted in the WH and you can imagine what other things they were saying about that subject.
I know you're aware of their odd dot-to-dot thinking on Plame that doesn't make sense. I doubt they're even interested in what Matt Cooper and Judith Miller have to say to the grand jury, and that's who the GJ wants to hear from.
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